Albums by this artist

Wood/Water (2002)

Electric Pink (2000)

Very Emergency (1999)

Boys + Girls (1998)

Promise Ring

Wood/Water

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» BEN BEAUMONT-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER

Promise Ring Wood/Water Anti, 2002 RiYL: Get Up Kids, Sunny Day Real Estate

My first real encounter with the Promise Ring was supporting their best buds Jimmy Eat World. I expected the usual support-band yawn-provokers -- muddy sound, half-hearted playing, endless plugging -- but instead got a supernova harmony-drenched popfest. Hurrah! Of course, the audience (average age: 14) wanted to shake off exam "stresses", and so were baffled by the absence of riffery and the presence of funny instruments like keyboards, and reacted with constant heckling for Jimmy Eat World -- who, incidentally, were musically hopeless but ecstatically received. Typical.

Nevermind; I was mightily impressed and rushed out to buy the Promise Ring album the next day. And, sorry to say, it’s not entirely convincing. While on stage, they looked to be having a right laugh, on record they appear meek and mild. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but at times, the sound they are driving toward is more widescreen FM vistas than lo-fi musings, but the cautious approach means they never quite make it. Producer Stephen Street, who directed the Smiths and Blur in exactly the right directions for their respective music, gets it all wrong here. "Suffer Never" should be enormous and orchestral, but only gets halfway there, and ends up thin and weedy. "Get On The Floor" attempts to rock but is in fact a deeply dull rhythm-guitar hoedown; "Size Of Your Life" is staid; "Stop Playing Guitar" is maudlin. Singer Davey Von Bohlen had a confident, endearing vocal texture on stage; on record it comes across as the voice of someone trying to bunk off gym class. He even has a deeply irritating lisp at times. Stop it!

Unlike Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American, which crammed in nu-metal, pop-punk, indie rock, and lovely (if girly) ballads, Wood/Water has a narrower spectrum. There are those few deeply embarrassing attempts at rocking out like the young dudes on MTV, and then there are the pretty, unhappy songs. This latter category is far more successful, because it exposes the mature subtlety of this band. "Half Year Sun" is intimate and moving, with heart-strings being efficiently pulled with the slow addition of cello, then violin, then brass to the fragile vocal tones. Excellent.

On "My Life Is At Home," the previously annoying solo guitar work is pensive and sure, and this song is also a showcase for the harmonious vocal interaction of the whole band. Von Bohlen’s voice works in these environments, adding an almost child-like innocence and endearing naivety to the proceedings, whereas the louder tracks just sound like your dad doing karaoke. Particular successes are husky commercial ballad "Become One Anything One Time", which gives new meaning to the word "heartfelt," and where even that lisp works. And "Say Goodbye Good" gets some points for that winningly simple and satisfying sing-round-a-campfire aesthetic.

So, they didn’t have the balls to make their commercial suicide record, full of scratchy production and bedside warmth. So instead they made a glossy, major-label-sounding record that’s dull, atmospheric, frustrating, and beautiful in pretty much equal amounts.

BEN BEAUMONT-THOMAS |